help!

[medamullet]

The larger concern I would have is your location...bone dry, possibly hot in summer. You would need to do some serious humidifying to keep a jax comfortable or healthy there. It can be done, but it will add to the cost of creating and maintaining a habitat and will need careful DAILY attention. Can you guarrantee that the room where the cage would be will stay cool enough in summer especially at night? You may be looking at using AC if you don't now. And, with the AC will come even drier indoor air. You'll need to use some sort of mister or humidifier in addition to daily hand spraying or water dripping, have live bushy plants filling the cage, possibly find ways to hold every drop of moisture in the cage without creating a stagnant sauna. I've kept cool montane climate chams in CO so know it can require a lot of careful monitoring (so learning a cham's signs of trouble will need to be learned quickly and well).

Thanks for the info, I am planning on purchasing a timmer drip/mister system, putting live green plants in the enclosure as well. Since The climate is bone dry, AC summers. The temp in the room will stay roughly the same from summer and winter. I just keep reading thanks again everyone.

 

[medamullet]

I have decided against all my local chameleons the enclosures are not ideal from what I have been reading. I think it's time I just start buying supplies and build my own.

Thanks for the help.

 

[medamullet]

I have put together a list of things to buy, if I am missing anything let me know....


Flukers Digital Thermometer/Humidity Guage
T-Rex Black Night Bulb 60 Watt
24 x 24 x 48 inch Aluminum Screen Cage
72 Inch tropical vine
Exo Terra Jungle Vine Small
24" fluorescent hood fixture
Zoo Med 18" Repti Sun 5.0 UVB bulb
Rep Cal Calcium (with D3)& Herptivite

I will put together a drip and mist system from Lowes and buy some real plants as well. maybe a few feeding dishes and odds and ends, but please let me know if I am missing anything.

Also I ahve seen around at a few places with smaller starter kits, I know they usually don't come with the exact stuff you want/need but is it a good place to start?

I want a young chameleon, but will make a divider for the enclosure so he isn't using all of that space from the begining.

 

[Elizadolots]

You need calcium without D3 as well. While D3 helps the body process the calcium, it has negative affects on some other vitamins, so you have to balance it out. I believe the general recommendation is to use calcium with D3 2x a month. It might be more for a younger animal.

 

[medamullet]

ok thanks I will add that to the list as well.

 

[Elizadolots]

I just re-read your list. Unless it gets really cold at night in your house, you probably don't need a heat bulb. They do better with a significant drop in temps over night. Also, when you get your real plants (which you should do) putting them in terracotta pots will help with keeping the humidity up.

 

[Carlton]

Flukers Digital Thermometer/Humidity Guage
T-Rex Black Night Bulb 60 Watt

I want a young chameleon, but will make a divider for the enclosure so he isn't using all of that space from the begining.

Is this the analog circular dial humidity and temp combination gauge? I don't trust them. A good digital humidity gauge (such as a room type from a home improvement store) will save you much worry and be more accurate. Actually, I prefer NOT mounting the gauge in the cage all the time. The sensor can get saturated or corrode if it is constantly humid or gets actually wet. I like to keep my gauge handy just outside the cage until I need to check the level in a particular spot inside. When you first put the gauge inside it will tend to react to the actual humidity level quickly. Maybe that's just my own little idea. I also prefer using a temp gun (check Pro Exotics' site tempgun.com for an example) to measure the temp on the cham's skin or any other surface. They are easy to use, completely mobile, and don't just measure the temp of the AIR...rather the surface of objects.

You are not planning on heating the cage at night are you? If your room won't get below 65 at night you do not need any heat source then. Any incandescent house light bulb will provide basking heat for daytime (and be cheaper so you can test different watt bulbs to create just the right temp at the basking perch) and provide better general lighting during the day. Don't really need a "fancy" heat bulb.

 

[medamullet]

I will cut the night heat bulbs off the list, I all ready have a laser heat temp gun. That's a good idea, as long as I don't laser his little eye! I also added calcium with out D3 to the list.